whew, sorry that's taken me so long i've been busy and not always in the mood to sit down and type once i get home from school. its been a good almost week and a half back. i started my two weeks of full control this week which has been good so far, a little challenging because its Maori Language Week and well I don't know Maori very well, but i'm picking it up and the kids are helping me out. its been fun though because we've been reading a lot of Maori myths and tales and getting to do some awesome creative work and writing and fun art projects! so thats been wonderful and i'm definitely getting into the flow of things after today. better with time management and behavior management and such. really i've been doing a lot of this already, but these are my own plans and i'm always the one leading this class rather than us switching off sometimes.

i can't believe that i'm already in full control and already on my 5th week at school! that means i'm halfway through my teaching and over halfway through my time here. whatttt? its unbelievable. love everyone at home but definitely not ready to think about leaving here yet. but i'm not going to think about it. thought i'd share a picture with my family and some of my friends here (besides team america). we had a fun mexican party at one of the teacher's houses this weekend, we have all been craving mexican so she said she'd throw a party. it was great we wore sombreros and had a slushie machine with margartias and my ties (a run and orange kinda drink, they were good) it was awesome! i really love all of these people, they have been so welcoming since the very beginning and are always so much fun and down for a laugh, i feel so lucky to have met them.

an Owairoa pic.

 with Sharleen and PJ (my host parents)

 sue, she works in the office with Sharleen.

 william and kerry, year 4 teachers. nice ponchos.

this is from before holiday at Reagan's field hockey game. i'll have to get a pic with all of us in it! Olivia  , Sharleen and PJ. they're wonderful!!